Albert Yu, who led Intel Corp.'s development of microprocessors from the 386 through the Pentium 4, is retiring Sept. 5 after nearly 30 years with the chipmaker.

Yu, 61, who currently serves as strategic programs director, is most widely known within the industry for his 16-year role as general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, a position he held until late 2000.

During his tenure at the helm of Intel's processor business, the Santa Clara, Calif., company experienced dramatic growth mirroring the PC boom of the '90s, as the chipmaker's products were featured in the vast majority of systems sold worldwide.

"Albert Yu is well known and highly respected both within Intel and throughout the semiconductor industry," Intel CEO Craig Barrett said in a statement. "Albert has been a key contributor to Intel's success over the years and we wish him well in retirement."

Yu joined Intel in 1972, only one year after the company introduced its first microprocessor, the 4004, a 4-bit chip featuring 2,300 transistors. In the following years, Yu oversaw dramatic technological advancements that enabled the creation of ever smaller and faster processors. His tenure overseeing the processor unit culminated with the release of a 1.5GHz Pentium 4 with 42 million transistors in November 2000.